Coastal Carolina looks to dethrone the 'kings of the conference'

Coastal Carolina enters today’s game at Liberty with the nation’s fifth-ranked scoring defense. But even Chanticleers coach David Bennett isn’t quite buying into that number just yet.

“Well, we ain’t played Liberty yet,” he said. “That’s the whole key.”

Bennett has spent the better part of the week trying to convince the media that his team has no chance today against Liberty, the “kings of the conference,” as he noted. The Flames have won 11 straight Big South games and haven’t lost a league home game since October 2006.

And no, the Chanticleers haven’t exactly faced an offensive juggernaut yet. They rank 13th in FCS in total defense (263 yards per game) and third in pass defense (126.2 ypg), but those gaudy numbers have come against some fairly bad competition.

The best offense Coastal has played so far is Monmouth, which ranks 74th in FCS in total offense. The other opponents — VMI (81st), Towson (92nd), North Carolina A&T (98th) and Kent State (106th in FBS).

Still, Liberty coach Danny Rocco heads into today’s matchup leery of the Chanticleers, which are allowing about 100 yards less per game than a year ago.

“The first thing I see is just team speed,” Rocco said. “This is a very talented group of athletes on defense. They’re talented on the corners. They have long athletes, guys that have speed and some length to them. They run to the ball. They’re physical when they get there. It’s a very impressive group.

“We’ll have to play our best game of the year to have a chance to be 1-0 in conference play.”

The three games in the series since Rocco arrived at Liberty haven’t been defensive slugfests. Liberty won 43-38 last season in Conway, S.C., beat the Chants 37-20 at home in 2007 and lost 28-26 in Conway in 2006. But Liberty hasn’t found the same level of offensive success this season that it has in years past. The Flames have been among the country’s top 30 offensive teams the last two seasons, but they’re squarely in the middle of the pick this year, tied for 52nd in total offense.

A lot of that has to do with improved strength of schedule, as Liberty has already played West Virginia, Lafayette and James Madison. The Flames played two Division II teams in both 2007 and 2008, and they’ve only played one such opponent this season, downing West Virginia Wesleyan 45-7 two weeks ago.

The other problem has been Liberty’s inability to consistently establish a grind-it-out running game. The Flames showed the ability to control the ball with the run against West Virginia Wesleyan, and they’ll need to do it again today against a Coastal team that is talented at cornerback.

The game pits what, in recent seasons at least, have been the two benchmark programs in the Big South. Liberty has won the last two Big South championships, and Coastal had won or shared the title in the three previous seasons. Coastal was the last Big South team to beat Liberty, and Rocco reminds his players of that fact.

“It’s certainly an attention getter. It always was and it always will be,” Rocco said of the Coastal game. “We’ve kind of created a nice little rivalry here. Healthy competition, not only in football. I think it’s good. I think it’s healthy.”